Wednesday, April 23, 2014

In Australia schools have shut down for the end of term 1 Easter vacation. It's Autumn in Australia and I'm on holidays too, so I thought I'd repeat a post from the June holidays in 2013. Parents who have children to care for might try some of the fifteen easy activities. All are fun, simple and can be done at home. Of course, while it's a
post about holiday activities any of the ideas can also be used at other times.

For
many parents holidays mean more hours to
fill each day with activities that will keep your children occupied,
stimulated and happy. I've written a number of posts in the past about
things to do in the holidays with kids (here) and simple travel games to fill the time on trips with your children (here). There is also an excellent post on Planning With Kids that offers '10 Activities to Do With Kids at Home'.

I
thought I'd offer my top 15 activities that can work inside and
outside, in pretty much any type of weather. My criteria for choosing
them are that the activities should:

Stimulate creativity

Encourage exploration and discovery

Involve using their hands as well as their minds

Encourage interaction between you and your children

Foster literacy development

Increase their knowledge

Keep them interested

Books with a difference

1. Pick some special books they haven't seen
- try to borrow or buy at least 2 books for each child that you think
they'll enjoy. Op shops, book exchanges and libraries are the place to
start. See my post on book exchanges, op shops and web exchange sites here. Take your children with you to the op shop or library to choose them.

2. Books as a creative stimulus
- While the shear joy of the book is usually enough, sometimes books
can stimulate many wonderful creative activities. For example:

After reading Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things are"
go outside and dramatise it. Let one child be Max and let others take
turns at being the wild things. Make a boat out of bits of wood, or
even have a go at making one out of a large cardboard box (or several).

After reading Jeannie Baker's book "Where the Forest Meets the Sea"
(a book about the Daintree Rainforest in which all the pictures are
collage) encourage them to make a collage out of natural materials (and
maybe some wool, straws etc to supplement) in response to Baker's
pictures. Or read a second book and have them use collage in response.

After reading Graeme Base's "The Waterhole" get them to paint the waterhole (they can draw the animals, cut them out and paste them around the waterhole).

3. Dramatisation
- Dramatisation is an excellent way to respond to a book. If you have a
dress-up box all the better. Let your children either re-tell the
story through dramatisation or improvise. Get involved to help set the
pattern for turn taking etc. I play a mean wolf, and an even better
Grandma!

Writing

4. Diaries and journals
- Introduce older children to diaries or holiday journals. Make this
fun, not a school activity. If they just want to make it a scrapbook by
pasting in tickets, leaves they collect, food wrappers etc, then let
them. But you can also show them how to create a travel diary.

5. A holiday blog
- Tech savvy mums and dads might encourage their children to write
online. Why not set up a family blog that can be read by friends and
relatives (even if only for two weeks). You could use this as part of a
trip away, or just use it at home. Older children could set up the blog
themselves and all family members could contribute. Let them have
access to a digital camera and a scanner and the sky is the limit. See
my recent post on 'Children as bloggers' (here).

6. Start a family joke or riddle book - give them some jokes as models ("Knock, knock", "Why did the centipede cross the road"....)

I've written a number of previous posts on play (here)
but planning for play is important. While you can say to your children
go outside and 'play', doing some simple planning at times will lead
to more stimulating play times.

9. Dress-up box-
If you don't have one take the kids to an Op shop to start one. You
might even pick up some gems like old helmets, hats, belts (you can cut
them down), handbags etc.

10. Water play
- This is hard in cold weather, but maybe you could make bath-time
special for littlies with extra bubbles, different stuff to take into it
. In warmer weather give them a bucket of water and some things to
scoop, sieve etc - obviously only UNDER SUPERVISION.

11. Play dough
- You can buy cheap coloured modelling clay but home-made playdough
works well. My wife 'Carmen's can't fail' recipe is 1 tablespoon of oil,
1 cup of plain flour, 0.5 cup of cooking salt, 2 tablespoons Cream of
Tartar, 1 cup of water, colouring. Mix together and put in a saucepan
on medium heat until it binds together, stirring all the time. Fold
together by hand. If you keep it in a sealed plastic bag it will last
for ages in or outside the fridge.

There
are endless things to do with play dough. Try to move beyond just
cutting out shapes (which kids still love). Encourage them to make a
house, a farmyard, a bed, and an aquarium. Use some plastic animals with
the play dough or small plastic people. If you don't mind tossing the
play dough out you can let them use sticks, plants etc to make simple
dioramas. Kids will create complex stories as they manipulate the play
dough.

The blanket cubby!

12. Build a cubby house-
No not with wood, just use a table, some chairs, wardrobes (hitch the
blankets into the top of the doors, some pegs and sheets and blankets.
By draping them over other objects you should be able to create a
special space (about 2x2 metres is enough for three small kids). Try to
get at least 1.5 metres of height. Have the kids 'help' and then get
them to collect some special things to have in the cubby. Use a toy box
for a table, some cushions to sit on. I always let my grandchildren
have my cheap transistor radio from my shed (lots of fun). Girls might
like a tea set; boys will collect animals and toys, both will like
books. If you're up to it, climb in as well and read some stories.
They'll like the edges tucked in to cut out light so you might need a
torch. I've seen a cubby of this kind amuse kids for half a day. Then
of course for the adventurous you can share some snack food as well.
You can even build a cubby inside! See my post on cubbies (here).

Above: Jacob in a 'house' that he made (with help) from a box we saved

Indoor and back yard fun

13. Treasure hunts
- Write the clues on paper using words and pictures depending on ages
and make the treasure worthwhile (chocolate, a coupon for an ice cream
in the kitchen etc). For something a little more challenging why not
try a map with grid references (see picture opposite).

14. Cooking - Kids love cooking with their mothers or fathers. Do simple stuff. Nicole (Planning With Kids)
has lots of great ideas for cooking with kids on her site. Don't
forget to make it a language activity as well by getting them to follow
the recipes.

15. Insect scavenger hunt-
Try an insect scavenger hunt (one of my grandchildren's favourite
activities). You'll be surprised just how many you can find. You'll to
be careful turning rocks over and digging around, but even in Australia
it's low risk if you supervise. Place a pile of bricks in a damp place
and then let the kids help you to uncover them a few days later - watch
the critters scurry. We always enjoy a good snail race afterwards!

A few basics hints

Have
a strategy for the holidays - map out a timetable (post it on the
wall) and try to plan a few significant events and think through the
general structure of each day.

If you have younger children still at home, being joined by school
kids on holidays, try to think about how you will cope with all their
interests and think about varying daily routines a little.

Pace yourself - don't use all your best ideas in the first few days
(you'll wear them and yourself out and you'll struggle to keep up the
variation later).

Expect bad weather - think about some ideas that will work in rainy
weather as well. It's called the "Law of Holidays" - expect lots of wet
weather and a day or two of sick kids.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

This isn't my first post about the importance of
non-fiction books (see some more links at the end of the post) for boys as readers. Some
young readers find non-fiction more engaging than fiction. So finding good non-fiction is worth the effort if you want some boys to read. In an earlier post I talk about this at length (HERE). This post is
simply a quick review of some good books published in the last year or so, it isn't meant to be comprehensive. I have arranged the examples I offer of varied types of non-fiction
roughly in order of difficulty and age interest. It goes without saying that there are girls too for whom non-fiction is also more engaging.

This
is a delightful non-fiction picture book that teaches us in narrative
form about the life of the wonderful bilby, an Australian marsupial.
It traces the events of a typical day for mother and baby, and the
perils of native and feral animals as the baby Bilby tries to survive
life in the Australian landscape. Edel Wignel's story keeps the reader
interested, while Mark Jackson's brightly coloured illustrations add
drama and detail to this piece of discovery learning in narrative
form. Children aged 2-6 will love this book. It is also a great book
for classroom-based units and learning.

'Tom the Outback Mailman' by
Kristin Weidenbach and
illustrated by Timothy Ide won the Eve Pownall prize for information
books. This delightful true story of a great Australian character is
based on Weidenbach's story of Tom Kruse who was the driver of the
Marree-to-Birdsville mail. Once a fortnight for twenty years Tom loaded
his Leyland Badger truck and drove 1,000 km across perilous territory on
little more than a dusty dangerous rutted track. His job was to deliver
mail and provisions to arguably the most isolated residents in the
world. Tom was a great Australian character who lived in the middle
decades of last century

The book is a version for younger children (aged 5-8 years) that Weidenbach has adapted into a delightful picture book for young
readers. It offers just a small slice of the events of Tom's life. When floods cut the Birdsville Track, the station
residents run out of supplies and worse still, the Birdsville
Hotel runs out of beer! It
takes Tom’s ingenuity to beat the floodwaters and get the mail
and the beer through. Timothy Ide provides wonderfully detailed
watercolour illustrations that add to what is already a compelling
narrative account.

The
Children's Quick and Easy Cookbook has 60 simple recipes that children
will enjoy. The recipes are easy enough for most children to use, and
are mostly suitable for the whole family. It contains a mix of healthy
snacks, full meals, and
delicious treats and sweets. The meal recipes include pita pockets,
falafel, pizzas, Turkish meatballs, tacos, Thai satay kebabs, lemon fish
sticks, filled crepes, chicken curry and rice. There are also many
wonderful sweets including simple baked bomb Alaska, Tiramisu, parfaits,
carrot cake, cookies and many more.

The book also
outlines cooking techniques, good food hygiene, kitchen safety, and
step-by-step instructions. Full colour photographs are used throughout
the book.

If
you have a box of Lego pieces resulting from your purchase of dozens of
Lego sets, then you need this book. The book has 500 ideas for how you
can make new things out of your box of Lego pieces. The book has six
themed chapters—transportation, buildings, space, medieval history,
adventure, and useful things to make. Each section has templates for
models and
ideas for how you might create your own. The book has 200 pages of tips
and advice, illustrations and ideas. It is well illustrated and
beautifully designed. This book will keep children aged 7 to 70 years
busy for hours.

This
book is a unique interactive guide to understanding simple
machines and mechanisms. It introduces basic physics both in words and
through models that the reader manipulates. It has 9 double-page spreads
that introduce the reader to a key mechanical
principle that you then put into practice by building one or more
working
models. The text and illustrations offer an easy to understand
description of the mechanical principle and how to make a model that
demonstrates it. This hands-on approach makes it easy to understand how
these
principles work and how they can be applied to everyday objects, such as
cars, bicycles cranes and seesaws. Everything that you need is within,
or attached to the book. The concept is brilliant

'Locomotive', written and illustrated by Brian Floca (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Children’s Publishing, 2013).

'Locomotive'
is the story a family’s journey across America in 1869 on the newly
completed transcontinental railroad. The star of the story is the steam
engine, but a mother and her two children and all those who keep the
train moving are essential extras as it races down the Californian
coast.

For the true enthusiast of trains the author
gives us plenty of technical information about 19th-century railroading.
This is not surprising, as Floca seems to have aimed at a very broad
audience. Some will be pulled along by rhythm of the story, others will
love the train details, and some will revel in the sense of history
(even in the very typefaces used). Floca uses free verse and as you'd
expect plays with words and sound to great effect.

The technical craft and book
design are both brilliant, as Floca uses every device to good effect to
engage readers in this exciting journey by an incredible piece of 19th
century technology.

Even the way he uses his
pictures provides a cinematic style that is hard to create, but which
adds to the richness of the text. The detail in the illustrations is
superb; it is as much draftsmanship as it is fine illustration.

Kubla
Khan is not well known and has often been mentioned historically only
indirectly or in passing. Who was the man who Coleridge described in
his famous poem 'Kubla Kahn'? This is the presumed grandson of Genghis
Khan who reputedly built the imperial city of Beijing, and fathered a
hundred or more children. History and legend suggest that he ruled over
the greatest empire of the time, and that it was more advanced than
previous civilisations in science, art and technology. The narrative
text is engaging and should hold the interest of young readers, and
Robert Byrd beautifully illustrates the book. Readers aged 7-9 years
will enjoy this 42 page illustrated book.

Every
Australian and English child who grew up in the 1950s to 70s in
Australia would know of the story of Simpson and the donkey he used to
retrieve wounded men on the WWI battlefields of the Gallipoli Peninsula
in Turkey. This was one of the greatest of all defeats for the forces of
Britain, France and of course the Australian and New Zealand armed
forces (the ANZACs). In the
midst of the massacre of thousands of allied troops and the eight-month
siege of this isolated beachhead, a man and his donkey were responsible
for saving many lives, before Simpson was eventually killed on yet
another mission.

Mark Greenwood offers a moving story
of John Simpson Kirkpatrick and how he and his donkey, Duffy, rescued
over 300 men during the campaign at Gallipoli. It traces his life from
his home in South Shields in Newcastle (England) and his journey from
the Tyne Dock to Turkey. Informed by detailed research, the text
includes a brief biography of the man, details of his work at Gallipoli
and also the little known story of how one of the many he rescued was
actually a childhood friend.

Frané Lessac's
illustrations are a wonderful complement to the story and have strength
of colour that is not controlled by conventions. There are skies of
yellow, orange, aqua, purple and all shades of blue. Her unique style
draws your eye deep into each plate; no details can easily be missed.

The Usborne Art book has almost 300 pages of
original ideas for painting, drawing and making collage. This fantastic
book is ideal for children of varied (and minimal) artistic ability. It
is also suitable for just about any age (but it's ideal for 7-12 year
olds). The book will help
children to explore varied artistic forms and materials, including
chalk,
pencil, paint and watercolour. It offers ideas that require the use of a
wide variety of artistic techniques, including painting, drawing, sticking, ink, ripping,
rubbing, smudging and colouring. Each of the many ideas is illustrated
with very easy to follow step-by-step instructions. The book also
offers tips on brushwork, mixing colours, thinning and thickening paint,
how to shade and add patterns, using oil pastels, acrylics and more.

John Schumann wrote an unforgettable song 'I Was Only 19' in 1983 with the band Redgum. It had the memorable refrain 'God help me, I was only 19'. The lyrics
of this well-known Australian song have been brought to life in a
children's picture book illustrated by the widely acclaimed Australian
illustrator Craig Smith.
The words are used exactly as in the song. With Craig Smith's
wonderful watercolour and line drawings they are a moving reminder of the
Vietnam War. This was a war that was fought in different ways to the
previous great wars and had less universal support than previous
conflicts in which Australia and other nations had fought. This was a
war that for many didn't seem 'quite real', and our servicemen still
carry the physical and mental scars. The book is a moving insight into a
war fought by young men who knew little about the country in which they
fought and why they were there. It would be an ideal book to share with
children aged 6-12 years as we approach ANZAC Day in Australia on April 25th.

The beautiful land
of Greece is haunted by more than three thousand years of legend and
history. In this gripping retelling of the Heroic Age, you'll meet the
mighty Poseiden, God of the Sea; Zeus, the King of Heaven and Earth;
Hades, Lord of the Dead; Artemis the Huntress; Aphrodite, Immortal Lady
of Beauty and Love; and many more mortals and gods. Their adventures
are some of the oldest and most famous stories in the world.

This collection of well-known Greek myths will be enjoyed by readers aged 11+

Step
back into the Heroic Age with the story of Helen and the judgement of
Paris; of the gathering of the heroes and the siege of Troy; of Achilles
and his vulnerable heel. And join Odysseus, the last of the heroes –
famous for his wisdom and cunning – on his thrilling adventures as he
makes the long journey home to Greece.

In
this thrilling collection of the great myths, you'll encounter Amen-Ra,
who created all the creatures in the world; Iris, searching the waters
for her dead husband, Osiris; the Bennu bird and the Book of Thoth. But
there are also tales told purely for pleasure, about treasure and
adventure – and even the first ever story of Cinderella.

This
is a true story that has been a long time coming. It tells in a fair
but powerful way of the racism that has often existed in armed forces
around the world. Americans may well have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen, but few would know of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion
- the Triple Nickle. These were the first US black paratroopers. They
showed that black soldiers could do anything their white counterparts
could do. The text and over 100 carefully labelled photographs in this
150 page book offer us an insight into how some brave and persistent
African American men paved the way for others to be a full part of the
US armed forces.

Tanya Lee Stone (author of 'Almost
Astronauts') has done extensive
research to tell her true story for readers of all ages. Boys in
particular will love reading and looking at the historic photos. The
work took Stone almost 10 years and the meticulous care and passion
shows in this wonderful book. This amazing story will challenge all
readers irrespective of age, race or ethnicity. The book recently won the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. It is a very worthy
winner.

As they say, this book is an 'oldie' but a 'goodie'. It offers a range of ideas for making and doing things. For
example, how to make the greatest paper plane in the world, building a
tree house, all about dinosaurs, making a G0-cart, how to go fishing,
juggling, all about Australian snakes, skimming stones and so on. This
isn't a simple book (about grade 4-5 standard) but the content will help
boys to 'stretch' themselves. It is also a great book for boys to read
and 'do' with an adult. I've reviewed it in more detail here.

Kim
Gamble is a well-known illustrator of Australian picture books. In
this very accessible book he shows you how to draw just about anything
you want to. Most how-to-draw books are either simple and recipe like
or far too complex. The book offers principles and guidance for drawing
many objects, including varied animals, people (bodies and faces), and
landscapes including perspectives. He also offers techniques for
shading and colouring. He intersperses the many diagrams and drawings
with stories, jokes and examples that make the approach lots of fun,
engaging and effective. It is ideal for children aged 7-10 years.

This
is a story about the courage of 16-year-old Grace Bussell. The year
is 1876, when a steam ship, the 'Georgette', runs aground near Margaret
River in Western Australia. On shore an ordinary 16 year-old girl sees
the unfolding drama and heads off on horseback with the family servant
Sam Isaacs to try to help the stranded passengers. Grace and Sam head
into the water with their horses and rescue many people. Using
eyewitness accounts and other historical documents as well as some
slight embellishment to fill in details to sustain the narrative,
Stephanie Reeder brings this true story to life. This
wonderful story is an excellent follow on from Stephanie Reeder's
previous book, 'Lost! A True Tale From the Bush'. This previous story
was also a true story. It told the story of 3 children who became lost
on their way home in 1864 and spent eight days alone. It was shortlisted
in the 2010 CBCA children's literature awards.
'The Boy from Bowral' by Robert Ingpen

Robert
Ingpen is known primarily as an illustrator but he is also a fine
writer with 13 works of fiction and over 20 non-fiction. His most recent
book as writer and illustrator is 'The Boy from Bowral' which tells
the biographical story of Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman
who is the greatest cricketer of all time. Bradman is seen as a legend
in any cricket playing nation and Ingpen provides a lucidly written
and historically accurate picture of Bradman's early life in Bowral,
his rise to prominence as a cricketer, and his sporting career. The
images are drawings based primarily on existing photographs, so the
keen cricket fan (like me) will feel that they recognise some of them.
The cover (which wraps around to the back) is a wonderful sequence of
images that appear like a series of video frames that capture the
classic Bradman cover drive. I loved this book and any cricket
following child or adult will also enjoy it.

Neurology explores the
complexities of the Central Nervous System, beginning with the different
sections (lobes) of the brain, continuing to the spinal cord and
concluding with the structure and function of the neuron. Readers will learn how to pronounce key terms like Cerebellum, Occipital Lobe and Sensorimotor Cortex. They will also discover the
functions of the Cerebral Cortex, Basal Ganglia and the Hippocampus! The book will also help them to understand the way the brain is organised - Forebrain, Midbrain,
Hindbrain... and much more.

The book has wonderful images
that will engage them and color-coded text will reinforce lots of new learning. A great book for boys who love science and fancy themselves as brain surgeons! This is a book that will appeal to boys (and girls) of all ages.

This
wonderful hard cover book from tells the story of 14 famous journeys
throughout history, including 'Pytheas the Greek Sails to the Arctic
Circle in 340BC', 'Admiral Zheng He Crosses the Indian Ocean in
1405-07', 'Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin Land on the Moon in
1969', 'Marco Polo Rides the Silk Road to China in 1271-74' and many
more.

Each story has multiple drawings, maps and a
giant fold out cross-section. Boys will read and look through this book
for hours. You will also enjoy reading this exciting book to boys. There
are many other 'cross-section' books by Stephen Biesty and others
(here), including 'Egypt in Cross Section', 'Castles' and 'Rome'.

'Movie
Maker' is another wonderful resource from Walker Books designed for
primary school aged children (7-12 years). It is a kit that contains
ideas for making movies, and a handbook that shows you how armed simply
with a video camera, you can make movies. The handbook talks about
techniques like storyboarding, production, equipment, sound and
lighting, design, special effects, how to vary camera shots and so on.
It also includes some very cute aids such as a binocular mask, an
adjustable frame, sample story boards, character props (e.g. glasses,
moustache) and even authentic theatre tickets. All it doesn't include
is the popcorn.

I
wanted this book as soon as I saw it. Well, as soon as I saw the
title! The book is all about igniting interest in science. Sean
Connolly achieves this with lively, hands-on activities that suggest
excitement and "danger". Simple experiments that pop, ooze, surprise and
teach will delight boys and girls in upper primary. He also leads the
reader through the history of science, and uses simple experiments to
demonstrate key scientific principles.

The reader can
rediscover the wheel and axle with the ancient Sumerians, or perform an
astounding experiment demonstrating the theory of angular momentum.
Children can build a simple telescope like Galileo's and find the four
moons he discovered orbiting Jupiter. They can experiment safely with
electricity and avoid the more risky approach of Ben Franklin with his
Lightning experiment. They will also learn how to re-create the Hadron
Collider in a microwave with marshmallows, calculator, and a ruler to
demonstrate the speed of light. Or they might simply crush a can using
Stephenson's steam can experiment. This is a wonderful book for children
aged 9-12 years.

Monday, April 7, 2014

The title of this post might seem outrageous, and was certainly designed to get your attention, but I want to suggest that in one sense it's true! Let me explain. While the groundwork for the creation of young writers takes years, the point of take-off can occur in as a little as 30 minutes. This post is an illustration of how this can occur. In fact, in this single post you will see how one five year-old goes from a non-reader with some early knowledge of sounds to a reader and writer in one week.

The example is drawn from recent observations of one of my grandchildren, but I have seen it many times in classrooms throughout my teaching and research career.

Evie is five and has just commenced formal schooling in Australia in Kindergarten (Grade 1 in most countries). She had attended two years of preschool (for 2 half days per week as a three year old, and then three days per week as a four year old). She had been read to before school, mostly at bedtime, had begun to play sound, writing and matching games on an iPad as a 4 year old, and she liked completing some basic pre-reading booklets. She had also shown interest when she saw her brother (three years older than her) being taught to read at home, and recently she had been asking him to read to her.

When she started Kindergarten just eight weeks ago her teacher had begun introducing letters and their sounds and as reading and writing exercises. After about seven weeks the teacher had introduced about 15 sounds (2-3 per week), all single consonants and vowels. With each one Evie had to complete an activity sheet that required her to copy the letter, write (copy) a word, and then draw a picture (see an example below).

Above: One of Evie's School Worksheets

Like many preschool children Evie also enjoys drawing and likes to embellish them at times with numbers, sometimes letters and print-like scribble. However, she had not tried to write words or represent meaning with more than scribble or drawings. The only exception to this was the copying of the single words that matched the letters that her teacher had been systematically teaching.

Last weekend her grandmother was doing some creative oral story making using Lego as part of the process (this is a common strategy we have used in the past, see my recent post HERE). They were acting out a shopping episode, with Evie acting as the customer. As she came and asked for items (which were Lego shop items with food pictures on them) her grandmother said to her, 'You need a list.' To which Evie replied, Yes'! And she began to do some text-like scribble on paper and handed it to her grandmother in exchange for the 'goods'.

Because her grandmother had seen her school workbook she said, 'Why don't you write some words on the paper?' Evie grabbed a piece of paper and wrote 'egg' and 'fish' on the paper (two of her school words), which matched two of the Lego pieces. She exclaimed, 'I didn't know I could do that'! Her grandmother praised her, showed her grandfather (me) and we told her how clever she was.

Above: Evie's first two words written from memory

She dropped the game, got more paper and proceeded to try her hand at
more writing. At first she was using her store of words that she had seen at
school, writing each from memory without her school book. Within about 30 minutes Evie had written many words and then began to push the boundaries as she extended her writing from school words, to new words, then phrases, sentences and finally short stories.

I explained to her that she needed to have spaces between words and showed her how to use finger spaces between them. We provided more paper, her grandmother gave her a blank book, and she was away. Before the hour was out Evie had achieved the following milestones:

Step 1 - She had written her first words from memory (above)Step 2 - She begun to string known words together from memory with loose associations (see above larger text)Step 3 - She began to try to write words that she didn't know (see her attempt at 'bowl' and 'horse' below).

Above: Evie's first 'invented' spellings for 'bowl' & 'horse'

When she wrote the above words she said, 'I wrote some new words Grandad. Do you know what they are?' I answered, 'Yes, bowl and horse'. Pointing to the second word she asked, 'Does this really say horse'? I answered, 'Well I could tell that you meant them to be horse and bowl, even though there are some letters missing'. I showed her the missing letters, and then she moved on to her next piece of writing.

Step 4 - She sat down with her new blank book and tried to string together a number of words in the form of a simple sentence, trying to spell the unknown words using her limited knowledge of phonics.

Above: 'My pet dog is the best'

Step 5 - She repeated the text and experiments with images and other textual forms. Attempting multimodal texts already.

Step 6 - Her sentences become more complex, and her satisfaction is obvious! She shares her work.

Step 7 - She tries further experimentation with tough words and concepts. Her next text is much more complex in syntax, vocabulary and meaning. It has been written just one hour after she wrote her first words from memory and without assistance!

Above: A story with greater complexity

Step 8 - The next morning with her mother's help and advice on some words, she made herself a book and began to write her first 'novel' - 'My Cat'!

In the week since this series of events Evie also decided, with new confidence, that it was time to start reading herself at night. When she asked today could she read herself in bed, her mother gave her one of the Level 1 Ladybird 'Read it Yourself' books. The video below shows a snippet of her reading 'The Little Red Hen' largely unaided without having tried to read the book before.

Summing Up

This post hasn't set out to offer a recipe for how you can teach your child to write in 30 minutes. Rather, what I have tried to do is show an example of how fast progress can be for young readers and writers, if they have had rich literacy experiences in the preschool years, and when we seize on key teachable moments. In the day-to-day life of the home and school we need to look for opportunities to 'prod' children forward to take risks as learners. Once children do take such risks and experience success and encouragement, progress can be quite remarkable.

Rich literacy experiences from the start!

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About Me

I am a Professor of Education at The University of Sydney, Australia. I have spent a large part of my adult life as a teacher, academic, researcher and senior university administrator. My interests are varied, including how children learn language and literacy, the nature and construction of meaning, curriculum, pedagogy, and adult learning.